Voters chose to abolish the Lake Worth Utilities Authority on Tuesday, duplicating the Lake Worth City Commission's action of last May.

The move to abolish the authority was backed by 58.8 percent of those who cast votes. Of the city's 14,478 eligible voters, 27.8 percent turned out at the polls Tuesday.

"This indicates people are tired of the endless bickering and fighting and legal expenses," said City Commissioner Andy Andrews, who strenuously opposed the old authority.

From the other camp, Authority Attorney Frank Kreidler called the referendum non-binding.

"The (Florida) Supreme Court clearly said the city does not have the power to abolish the authority using that (Home Rule Powers law). Period," Kreidler said.

The Supreme Court ordered last month that the authority be reinstated, but the city requested a rehearing. The order cannot be enforced until the rehearing process is exhausted.

"The Supreme Court's decision would supersede any action taken by the city, including referendums," Kreidler said.

Most of the city commissioners have said they want to follow up the abolition by creating a different type of board to set utilities policy, budgets and rates.

Under the system envisioned by some commissioners, final approval of the utilities budgets would be left to the City Commission.

Kreidler said he plans to argue his point before Palm Beach Circuit Judge William R. Rutter Jr., in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the authority seeking to block the referendum.

But Assistant City Attorney Bernard Conko said he has asked the Supreme Court to clarify its order.

He said the court's order did not spell out how the city could abolish the authority, so the City Commission decided to try the referendum. The ruling did not prohibit a referendum, he said.

Most city commissioners have said they want to create a new authority if the effort to abolish the old one is successful. The makeup and the duties of the replacement commission, if any, have not been decided. The City Commission could even decide to set utilities policy itself.

"I have always said that we should have a buffer between the City Commission and the utilities," said newly elected Precinct 3 City Commissioner George Harrs.

Harrs also said he would do "whatever the people want" to resolve the issue.

Mayor-elect David Hinsa said the commission could create a new authority, but he interpreted the results to mean that voters want the City Commission, not a newly created utilities board, to run the utilities.

Authority Vice Chairman Sam Reynolds Jr. urged voters last week to retain the authority. He said the city's utilities should not be managed by "tax-and- spend politicians."

Lake Worth voters created the authority in a 1969 referendum. The authority, composed of five members appointed by the City Commission, had sole approval of its budget, spending and rate-setting.

The intent was to remove from politics the often costly and unpopular decisions affecting upkeep of the water, sewer and power systems. Previously, the City Commission held those duties.

Critics of the earlier arrangement said that the systems declined because the city used utilities revenues for purposes other than equipment maintenance.

Until 1979, the arrangement with the utilities authority worked smoothly.

But in the last six years, the relationship between authority members and city commissioners grew increasingly antagonistic.

Some city commissioners said the authority was paying too much to its top staff people. They were angered by authority plans to build a new office building, and accused the authority of cavalier spending in many instances.

The longstanding feud came to a head last May, when the City Commission abolished the authority, on the advice of Adams.

The authority won the first round in the Supreme Court, but the city requested a rehearing.

If the justices grant a rehearing, Adams said, he will go through with it in spite of the referendum result

LAKE WORTH

3 of 3 precincts

Utilities Referendum

Do the people of Lake Worth wont to abolish the Lake Worth Utilities Authority?